I Will Become a Tool
by NarutoFan64
Summary: After Naruto failed to return Sasuke to the Hidden Leaf Village, he thinks about the way a shinobi should act. He starts to act cold towards his peers as he starts his new way of the shinobi. Will he be saved from this dark path before it's too late? (I do not own Naruto)
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hey guys, it's been a while. I kind of lost motivation on the last story. I didn't like the way I was progressing, so I decided to restart… sort of. This is going to have some of the same things, and some different. However, I will be doing a better job at this story. My schedule should be one chapter a month. This way, I won't need to rush out chapters and can do it when I want to and not feel like I have to. Enjoy!_

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. I'm known for being an emotional guy who acts before he thinks. To be quite honest, I never liked to be like that. But, because I was on a team with Sasuke Uchiha, a pure genius and powerhouse shinobi, and Sakura Haruno, another genius, but lacked the strength that a capable shinobi required. So, I had to balance the team by being the opposite type of ninja that Sakura was. I had to be strong in ability, but weak in knowledge. I hated playing the role of an idiotic ninja. But, with the betrayal of Sasuke and my promotion from genin to chunin, I have a chance to be an actual shinobi. I will fulfill the role of what a shinobi is meant to be. I will become a tool. A tool that is used by the higher ups of the village.

My true potential can now be realized and there's no one that can stop me. With Sasuke gone and Kakashi and Sakura not being on my team, I will no longer have friendships that can hold me back. This feeling of betrayal will no longer be felt since there is no one to backstab me. While I've become acquaintances with a few of my peers, they are, by no means, friends of mine. I do have a feeling that they think we are friends, since we did decide to have a weekly get-together at Yakiniku Q ever since we all officially became genin. However, I no longer am a genin nor am I on a team with any of them. I no longer feel like wasting my time conversing with them. They all are too naïve and think that a ninja can be at full strength if they have emotions. Emotions such as regret, sadness, or grief prevent shinobi from becoming perfect tools. I will become a perfect tool, and no one is here to stop me.

I have to thank Sasuke for putting a whole in my stomach. If not for that, I wouldn't be stuck in a hospital room, allowing me to think about my past and reevaluate my future. Not only should I thank Sasuke, but I should also thank Kakashi. One of the few the few things he taught me while I was under his supervision was to "look underneath the underneath" as he put it. I used to think that it was friends that can make you strong. While it is true and it's gotten me this far, it was what was holding me back. I used to seek people's attention and sought for their praise. It's that train of thought that can make shinobi weak. If someone completed an S-Rank mission, it needs to stay classified. However, if this someone only seeks praise, then he will be saddened by the lack of attention he deserves. With this way of thinking, then someone not seeking praise all the time won't have his moral lowered by not receiving praise. He would be able to continue his missions at a higher level than the first guy, making him a more complete tool.

That is what I wish to become. No. That is what I will become. And I will become a complete tool without the use of friends. Friends would only get in the way. Failure is not an option. I will only have one life, so I only have one chance to do this."

With that, Naruto closed his notebook, put it in his pillow, and went to sleep. After all, he needed to rest if he was going to leave the hospital to start down his new path.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been one month since that accursed mission and everyone from the mission had released from the hospital and, other than Neji and Choji, had resumed their training. However, since they all were still recovering from their injuries, they hadn't been able to start taking missions again. Well, all except Naruto. Because of the nine tails being sealed inside of him and his Uzumaki heritage, his healing abilities were at another level. In fact, within the same time it took all of the other retrieval squad members to get out of the hospital, Naruto had begun training again and completed 4 C-rank missions all by himself. Afterall, he was a chunin and had proved to be skilled enough to do C-ranks by himself.

Actually, today he was returning home from another mission. He was on his way to the hokage tower to do a quick report so he could return to his training. There was something he wanted to try to finish a new technique of his and wanted to try it sooner rather than later. However, Kami must have had something against him because while he was walking to the hokage's office, he heard some voices that belonged to people he didn't feel like talking to.

"Has anyone seen Naruto lately? I haven't seen him since Sasuke left."

'Sasuke?' That name alone still brought up bad memories. Naruto was trying to get rid of his emotions, but that doesn't mean he successful. Not yet at least. Hearing Sasuke's name made Naruto think of what happened that mission.

"Oh, speak of the devil. What's up, Naruto?" Kiba got no answer from the blonde. Naruto just kept on walking while looking at the ground. It looked like he was deep in thought, so the group stood in front of him to get his attention.

"Oi, Naruto." Shikamaru said while waving his hand in front of the still walking Uzumaki. In fact, he kept walking and, despite the lazy genius standing in front of him, Naruto bumped shoulders with the Nara, but didn't even react to it. He just kept on walking, eventually getting out of the sight of the genin and one chunin, who were too shocked at the sudden appearance and disappearance of the normally loud blonde.

"What the heck just happened?"

…

"To conclude, mission accomplished, hokage-sama." said Naruto, finishing his mission report.

"Good work. Your paycheck has been directly deposited into your account." informed Tsunade. Naruto started to walk take his leave, but Tsunade had a question she wanted answered. "Are you alright?"

"Of course, hokage-sama. I received no injury from the mission as I stated in the report."

"That's not what I mean. You haven't been acting like yourself. Between the way you're talking and the way you've been behaving, it's like you're a whole different person! I mean, you even dress differently now!" Tsunade practically yelled, desperately wanting answers.

"I apologize, hokage-sama, but I'm only trying to act my age." half-lied the Uzumaki.

"Is that it…" said the granddaughter of the first hokage, seemingly thinking about something.

"Is that all?" questioned Naruto, wanting to resume his training. Tsunade, coming back to reality, responded.

"Yes that's all." Tsunade could only sit there and watch Naruto leave her office.

'What happened to you, Naruto?'

…

When Naruto arrived at the training field, he quickly threw his backpack and got straight to work. Five-hundred pushups, one thousand sit-ups, and ten laps around the training grounds with his weights on later, it was time to start his training. After all, a good workout requires a great warmup. However, before he could start, he got disrupted by a couple of unwelcomed visitors.

"Yo, Naruto. What's up?" asked Kakashi, showing up out of nowhere with Jiraiya behind him.

"What's up, gaki?" the two of them got no answer.

"Naruto?" asked Kakashi, getting closer to the blonde. But, said blonde knew that they couldn't take a hint and decided to acknowledge their appearance.

"Hello Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto greeted, a little too politely for the liking of the new newcomers. However, the two also heard the frustration in his voice and decided to keep their visit short.

"Listen kid, I need to go out and take care of a few loose ends. When I come back, I'll be taking you with me for a training trip." informed the white haired sannin.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up. Is that all?"

"I came with to give you this." said Kakashi, holding what appeared to be a present. When Naruto didn't take it, Kakashi went on to explain. "It's a tradition that when a sensei's student is promoted that he gives the student a gift as an award." When Naruto took the gift, he opened it to find a sealing scroll.

"This is from the both of us." started Jiraiya. However, seeing that Naruto was about unseal whatever was sealed inside the scroll, he quickly stopped him. "I suggest that you open that later when you're by yourself." Naruto, understanding the tone that Jiraiya said that in meant he was serious, nodded and put the scroll in his bag he had set aside.

"You've become a fine shinobi. I'm proud to say that you were my student." said Kakashi before he and Jiraiya disappeared.

'You really should teach someone more than how to walk on trees to consider them as your student.' thought Naruto while unpacking his tools and setting up targets in random spots. Today was going to be a bukijutsu training day, and it wasn't going to be easy.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred!" announced Naruto as he was finishing his cool down of one hundred push-ups. He was starting to pack up his belongings so he could go home for the night when he heard a number of familiar voices. Before he could make a quick escape, he was found by the in-coming group.

"Hey Naruto? How's it going?" questioned Shikamaru to the blonde chunin who had his back to them.

"I was just leaving. So if you came here to train, the field is open for you to use." responded Naruto, ignoring the question. He was starting to walk away when another person spoke to get his attention.

"We didn't come here to train. We were looking for you to talk." another voice spoke which Naruto recognized as Kiba's. Knowing that they would only follow him if he walked away, Naruto turned around to face his peers.

"What is it you want to talk about?" asked Naruto, recognizing the five ninjas that he now faced. Many of which look surprised about one thing or another about the blonde.

'When did he start talking like this?'

'Troublesome.'

'His eyes look so cold.'

'Is this actually Naruto?'

'When did he get so hot?'

"You know, it is considered rude to stare at someone. Would you please carry on with what you came to talk about?" asked Naruto, getting the attention of his confronters.

"We want to know why we haven't seen you around lately." stated Ino, being the first one to speak.

"Yeah. You've got us thinking that you're avoiding us or something." added Kiba.

"And why are talking like you're giving a mission report?" asked Choji, who had known Naruto since they were in the academy and never heard Naruto talk respectively to anyone. Not even Iruka-sensei or the hokage!

"I'm under no obligation to answer your questions." stated Naruto, walking away so he wouldn't have to be around his peers any longer. However, the ninjas wouldn't be satisfied without an answer and followed him.

"Hey, we're not done talking! You didn't even answer our questions!" shouted Kiba, clearly irritated that Naruto just brushed them off like that.

"Stop being a jerk and just answer the question. We're your friends and we're worried about you!" exclaimed Ino, trying to get Naruto to listen to them. However, what Naruto said next was not was she expected as a response.

"I have no friends nor do I wish for them. I only wish to become a proper tool to be used by my village."

Silence. Pure silence filled the training ground. No one expected that kind of response from Naruto nor did they know how to react to it. Naruto had always been very loud and always wanted to be around other people. So to hear those words come out of his mouth was unheard of.

"That's a little crazy to think like that. Where'd you come up with such a troublesome idea?" asked Shikamaru, eyeing Naruto suspiciously.

"It's the path I've chosen to take." responded Naruto, still having his back face the others at the field.

"What does that even mean? A person's a person, not a tool, you idiot!" shouted Kiba in retaliation to Naruto's statement. However, when Naruto acknowledge his statement, Kiba growled in anger. Silence filled the training ground again. Naruto, feeling like he was wasting his time, started walking away, shocking his peers.

Walking forward to close the distance between them, Ino felt the pressure and blurted whatever she could to get his attention. "We're going out tonight for barbeque like we do every month. You wanna join us?"

Naruto continued moving towards the forest that was in the direction for the village. "No."

'Troublesome.'

"C'mon! We never see you anymore. You stopped showing up to our usual get-together at Yakiniku Q ever since Sasuke left. You've avoided us for far too long!"

Turning his head, he turned his face towards his confronters. "You know, Inuzuka, that I train here everyday. While I prefer to be alone, I can say I'm not avoiding you."

"Naruto, I wish for you to spar with me." requested the quiet Hyuuga who spoke for the first time while being around the Uzumaki. But, his plea was not heard because Naruto ran into the forest to leave the training ground.

Ino, turning back to her friends, began speaking. "You know what we need to do, don't you?"

"Let me guess. Does it have anything to do with bothering Naruto and making the situation worse than what it is?"

"Shut up, you lazy ass. Aren't you worried about Naruto?" asked Ino.

"I am. But, he obviously needs his space and is just trying to figure things out." responded the lazy chunin, slowly becoming frustrated with the situation.

"I agree with Ino. Naruto's never been the type of guy to wanna be alone." added Kiba, always wanting to do something sooner rather than later.

Tonight, there would be a huge topic to bring up to discuss what to do about Naruto and plan what to do next. However, in the end, they all had the same idea. Naruto was going to accept their help, whether he likes it or not.


	4. Chapter 4

Today had been a terrible day for Naruto. He'd never been someone who liked walking around town. Between the stares and scowls he heard for people he passed by, it was too much for him. However, much to his displeasure, he ran out of food and needed to restock on ninja tools. A double whammy that forced Naruto to go into town. But, when he went to do his errands, he ran into a problem. Actually, three problems.

The three problems he ran into were the teams filled with his peers. Luckily, he was able to avoid conversation, something that was increasingly becoming difficult to do as time passed. Lately, it felt like they had been anywhere Naruto went.

The first problem came when he was walking past Yakiniku Q. Although he wasn't eating there, he could hear Choji's and Ino's loud voices. He tried to ignore it and continue going his separate way. However, the second he heard the name Sakura, he knew it was too late. He heard too much and needed to distance himself from them as much as he could in order to not hear more about his former teammate. She was taboo to him. Especially after…

Next came team 8. They must have been walking around town as well and were coming from the direction Naruto was heading towards. One turn and Naruto was taking a minor detour.

"Ever since Sasuke left, something about the leaf feels different."

Damn. Kiba was always good at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. The topic of Sasuke always made Naruto freeze with shock. That fight really messed him up. Betrayal was one thing, but for Sasuke to do what he did when he left was just so wrong.

Lastly, Naruto was almost confronted by team Gai. Just hearing Gai and Lee talk could make a normal person go insane. But, what Gai mentioned was what made this situation uncomfortable for Naruto.

"Have confidence Tenten. Afterall, I am in the lead in challenges against Kakashi."

Memories of team 7 went through Naruto's mind. It was too much. He was nauseous and dizzy now. At this rate, he was going to collapse if he didn't hurry home. A minute later and his vision was becoming blurry. Luck seemed to be on his side however because he was now in front of his apartment. After missing the lock in the door handle with the key three times, he managed to get the key in the keyhole and close the door behind him.

"Shit." he murmured as he fell onto his bed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep before he knew it. But, his slumber was disrupted from a nightmare that identical from THAT day. After trying to go back to sleep, he was given no choice but to go train. It felt like it was the only thing he could do to distract himself from reality. It was his clarity.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto was walking to his apartment when he noticed a letter was in his mailbox. He opened it and read what is had. It said that all shinobi were to be given a checkup, both physical and mental. In other words, they wanted to make sure all ninjas were physically capable of filling the role of a shinobi as well as see if the shinobi were crazy.

As easy as it sounded, it became a lot more troublesome than it should be. Apparently, when Inoichi Yamanaka, a member of the interrogating core, did his mental checkup, he saw something that made him feel uneasy. Because of this, he was to attend mandatory counseling from Shizune.

Each session would about thirty minutes each. So it wasn't time consuming. However, what made this such a hinder was that he was to be given time off from missions. When he went to Tsunade to appeal the break, he was disappointed with the result: he had no choice but to take a break.

"You've been either training or going on missions nonstop for the past four months. It's probably a stress problem that will disappear after a week."

As much as he disliked his situation, he knew he had no choice. He was still allowed to train. He just needed to have someone with him to make sure he didn't overdo it. Damn. He knew Tsunade was hiding something. Otherwise, he would be allowed to train alone or not train at all.

Who the hell would want to train with? Kakashi was in the same situation as him by taking missions on a very consistent basis. Jiraiya was still away and wouldn't be back for another several months. This left… his peers. He had no other choice. It was either allow himself to stall in growth as a shinobi, or be around his peers and still progress. He would just have to not work on what he had been practicing in secret.

Well, he knew what he needed to do. Find someone who he found as the least annoying among his peers. This ruled out Kiba, Ino, Lee, and Tenten. He also needed to not train with lazier shinobi. They would only slow him down while training. This eliminated Shikamaru and Choji. This left Neji, Hinata, and Shino.

Fuck. He knew he wouldn't be able to train with any of those three alone. They were either around other people all of the time or did not tend to be with Naruto alone. That left him with the choice of walking around and finding the first person who was available.

…

Ino knew it was a bad idea to shadow her father at his workplace. He told her it would be a good idea to do it because it would give her experience with working in people's minds. She listened to him because she thought that he would be right as usual. She was wrong. She helped him with the mental checkups. It was quick and simple. She would go into a patient's mind, scroll through the memories and mental health of someone, then cancel the jutsu and move onto the next patient.

However, because she was only a genin, she needed a break in order to recover her chakra. When she returned, she saw Naruto sitting in a chair with her father already working on him. She decided to join him instead of waiting for the next patient. That was her first mistake.

When inside Naruto's mind, she had full access to everything about Naruto. Because her father was looking at his health, she went to his memories. That was mistake number two.

She had been worried about Naruto lately because of his recent attitude change. She was still inexperienced with looking at people's memories alone. She usually looked with her father. However, she thought she had the hang of it. Because of her inexperience, she was vulnerable to make mistakes. This lead her to looking at his memories from age 5 to the present. That was mistake number three.

Again, due to her being an amatuer, she did not know how to leave the memories. She was forced to sit back and watch as Naruto was lived through the villager's hostility. Between the resentment, isolation, and, on a number of occasions, beatings, which included torture, it was too much for Ino. What made it worse was that she was part of the resenting and isolating part of Naruto's childhood.

She barely made it through his childhood when she finally got the part that was part of the job. She watched as Naruto founded his ninja way with Haku and Zabuza's death. She watched as Naruto saved team 7 from dying when they fought Orochimaru. Ino gazed at Naruto's experience of defeating Gaara. Ino saw Naruto's memory of Sasuke trying to kill him on top of the hospital. But, what really made her lose it was what came next.

Ino was forced to observe Naruto's fight against Sasuke. She heard Naruto plead with Sasuke to come back. She saw Sasuke attempt to kill Naruto a number of times. She watched as Sasuke burnt Naruto with his fireball jutsu. She even watched Sasuke drop Naruto on his head from an over two-hundred feet drop. She starred in horror as Sasuke stabbed Naruto in the chest with his chidori, making a hole inside Naruto's stomach right after announcing that they were best friends. This whole fight made her wonder why Naruto was alive, but did show her why he changed.

However, the icing on the cake was watching as her best friend, Sakura, betrayed Naruto's friendship by attempting to murder him. Although she had closed her eyes because it was too much for her, she had seen enough. She now understood what Naruto was going through. A bunch of betrayals coming all at once.

This was all too much for her. She finally got out of Naruto's mind and told her dad what she had seen. One checkmark on a paper and Naruto was sentenced to counseling sessions and Ino was given the rest of the day of to rest and think about what she had seen.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto was increasingly becoming frustrated. The one time he wanted to run into of his peers, and he couldn't find anyone. It had been three days since he started his counseling sessions with Shizune. Apparently, he should be done with the sessions by the end of the week if he continues to "improve in mental health" as Shizune put it.

These three days without training had been the longest three days he had ever lived. Although it did benefit him by giving him a chance to rest and read more, it bothered him. He felt useless without being able to train.

Right when he was starting to doubt his bad luck in running into his peers, he found some of them walking past Ichiraku's. Actually, it was more like they found him because when they crossed paths, they stopped him.

"Just the guy we were lookin for." sounded Kiba, always being the first to talk.

"What do you guys want?" asked the Uzumaki, looking at the group who had blocked his path. There stood Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, Ino, Choji, and Tenten.

"Well we heard you were in a predicament. We thought we could be of some help." responded Neji, trying to hold back a smirk. When Naruto looked confused, they others looked at Ino, answering Naruto's question of who told them.

"How did you find out?" questioned Naruto, wanting to know who knew about his problem.

"I actually was involved the appointment, just entered the room late." answered Ino, knowing that Naruto was glaring at her without looking at him.

"You do realize I could turn you in for that, correct? That type of information is supposed to remain secret between the doctor, patient, and Hokage." scolded Naruto, knowing that he now had the upper hand in the argument. "But, because you know about my situation, then you all must spar with me. Otherwise, Ino's in trouble." Everyone there were okay with the demands, other than Shikamaru of course, who was now pouting.

"How do I always end up in troublesome situations. Troublesome blonds." the group then proceeded to walk to training grounds in silence, mostly because when Kiba asked Naruto a question, he was ignored, much to the annoyance of the Inuzuka.

"I need to push myself. So I won't use shadow clones when I fight you 6." informed the blond, who was going through his weapons kit.

"Are you serious? You actually think you have a chance with it being six verses one?" questioned Kiba, obviously confident in what the result will be.

"And you said no shadow clone jutsu? Correct?" asked Choji.

"Yes." answered Naruto.

"How about we make this interesting?" requested

"If we win, then you have to answer every question we have while you go to Yakiniku Q with us." challenged Kiba.

"Fine. But if I win, you all have to accept the fact that we are not friends and you have to leave me alone." replied Naruto, ready to finally get on with the fight. He was ready to be free himself from the bonds his peers were desperately holding onto. He looked at the faces of his soon-to-be opponents and saw pure determination.

' _Should've just told them to leave me alone after the fight.'_

"Ready? Fight!" announced Naruto as he was instantly surrounded. One smoke bomb later and he could hear Kiba and Akamaru doing their fang over fang jutsu. He knew if he ran out of the smoke, he'd have to deal with Shikamaru's shadow or Neji's taijutsu. However, he couldn't just let himself be hit by Kiba. He only had one move he could use to escape. Once the smoke cleared, they saw nothing but a log. The fight had just officially started, and it wouldn't end for a while.


	7. Chapter 7

If you asked anyone on the training grounds, or anyone else who met Naruto before the Chunin exam about their opinion of Naruto's tactical skills, you would be given the same response: He's an idiot. However, Naruto realized this was a problem and made sure to work on his thinking skills while training for the final rounds of the chunin exam. Between playing games of chess and shogi, reading, and his meditating, Naruto had grown to become more patient and think before he spoke.

It had already shown its results. He hasn't gotten into nearly as much trouble on missions. A perfect record in his mission stat line since team 7 disbanded showed that.

He knew he was at a complete disadvantage. However, this kind of training can give significant results. Such unfavorable conditions meant that he had to carry his own weight.

Now what was he facing? An Inuzuka, a Hyuga, an Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and a weapons specialist. An ambush would be impossible with Neji's Byakugan and Kiba's nose. Beating them with pure strength was impossible with Choji there. Pure taijutsu would be near impossible with Neji's gentle fist and Shikamaru's shadow possession. And with Tenten, he was at a disadvantage with fighting from a distance. He knew what he needed to do. Take out each individual opponent one at a time.

…

Shikamaru was never someone who wanted to participate in physical activities. Nah. Sitting around, watching the clouds, and playing shogi. Those were his go-to hobbies. And whenever he felt stressed, a nice nap was what he took.

Nevertheless, this was different. He was fighting for a chance to help Naruto. If you asked him if he would do this just two months ago, he would have laughed at the idea and go watch clouds while mumbling the word troublesome every couple of minutes.

However, he had grown closer to the blond and felt responsible for his recent situation. He was team leader of the mission to rescue Sasuke afterall. Losing your best friend, and possibly best friend in Naruto's case, has to be one of the worst events that can happen in your life. He would be devastated if Choji abandoned the village.

Naruto had become an enigma since that mission. Everything about him felt different. The way he talked, behaved, thought. Everything was different. He even lost that orange jumpsuit for a more normal looking ninja attire. Shikamaru hadn't been able to converse with the boy because Naruto wouldn't let him. Shikamaru could tell. Naruto was avoiding them and he had an idea as to why. But that didn't matter at the moment.

From what he knew, Naruto had the shadow clone jutsu, which was not going to be used in this fight, the summoning jutsu, the jutsu they learned in the academy, and, from what he heard, the rasengan, giving him an exceptional lineup of jutsu for someone so young. He may have learned something since that mission too, which they might find out soon. He was solid at taijutsu and pathetic at genjutsu. What made Naruto different from any other ninja was his chakra reserves and his will to never give up. The only way to defeat him would be to either trap him in shadow possession, mind control from Ino, or render his body ineffective with Neji's gentle fist. This meant there was only one way they could win.

"Hey guys, I think I got an idea."

…

"Duck!" alerted Neji, who saw a weapon fly in his team's direction. However, instead of an explosion, smoke was released into the air, blocking the sight of those around.

"Shit. Neji, do you see him?" asked Shikamaru, holding a kunai in hand in case he was attacked.

"No. My byakugan seems to be blocked by this smoke." replied Neji. "Kiba, can you smell him?"

"I think there's something in this smoke. I can't smell anymore." spoke the Inuzuka after sneezing.

"Tenten! Behind you!" yelled Ino, who was a sensory-type ninja. However, it was too late. Tenten was already out cold. Not much later and Choji was gone. Before Naruto could take anyone else out, the smoke cleared, revealing Tenten's and Choji's sleeping bodies.

"Damn. He already lowered our number to four." noted Shikamaru. He glanced at who he had left to fight. "Neji, Kiba. How are your byakugan and nose?"

"My eyes are fine." said Neji, using his Byakugan to check his surroundings.

"I'm fine. But Akamaru still can't smell anything right now." answered Kiba, with Akamaru whining after to show his frustration.

"Watch out everyone!" warned Neji. "He planted several traps around us." This got everyone to look at the ground and see the paper bombs and ninja wire setup. While they were checking their surroundings, a sizzling noise could be heard. Kiba, having the best ears because he was an Inuzuka, heard it and saw what it was.

"Ino!" However, it was too late to warn the Yamanaka because she was thrown back by the explosion. The others didn't have much time to react as another kunai was thrown with a paper bomb connected to it. The three remaining shinobi prepared for another explosion. However, instead of an explosion occurring, Naruto came out with a rasengan in hand and shoved it into Neji, knocking him out after he was forced into a tree.

"You know, a fight is supposed to have more than one side attack. I just eliminated four of your teammates in a matter of 2 minutes." reminded the blond shinobi, who was now facing the last two remaining opponents.

"We still have the numbers advantage and now have your location. You would've been better off staying hidden in the trees." noted Kiba, eyeing Naruto suspiciously.

"I wanted to make sure you guys knew what was going on. You guys are putting up much of a fight." Naruto then paused for a moment. "After all, if I had continued with my plan, this wouldn't be much of a spar. Would it?" said Naruto, pulling out a kunai. He backed up to give himself more space between him and his opponents. "I also wanna give you a chance. This hasn't been as challenging as I thought it would be." added Naruto, instantly ticking off Kiba who, in response, charged in with Akamaru in toe. Unfortunately for Naruto, Kiba was stopped in his track with Shikamaru using shadow possession to stop him.

"You idiot. Running in like that is what he wants you to do!" yelled the Nara. "We need a plan while we have the numbers advantage and getting yourself hurt will only help him."

'I'm going to need to take a minor retreat.' Naruto then disappeared.

"The idiot ran away. Serves him right." noted Kiba, smirking in the direction of where Naruto had retreated.

"And look what said idiot has done. At a disadvantage of six to one, he's taken out four of our guys, including Neji. Make sure you know who you're calling an idiot." informed Shikamaru, which in result made Kiba growl in disgust.

"We underestimated him, that's all." Kiba now yelling in frustration. Shikamaru, knowing that arguing with any Inuzuka, nonetheless Kiba, was pointless, changed the subject.

"Listen, I think I have an idea…"

…

One hour later and no conflicts had arisen between the two sides. Kiba and Shikamaru were ready to act, but couldn't find Naruto to finish the fight. They attempted to track him by his scent, but his trail ended by river.

'Figures. The idiot knows we have a tracker and dog.'

The two were starting to get annoyed. Someone like Naruto used to be upfront and frank. He never was the type of person to be cautious and patient. There was a reason why he sucked at strategy games such as shogi and chess.

Shikamaru looked at Kiba. The Inuzuka looked distracted and maybe lost in thought. That's something to be expected for someone who was very close friends with Naruto. Between all of the pranks they did, hanging out during their free time, and training they did together, one would think that they were best friends. For all Kiba knew, the Naruto that he knew was long gone and replaced with this phony.

He looked back up into the sky. It's times like now that he'd rather be watching clouds and distracting his mind. He hated thinking about irritating issues. It was always so troublesome. It reminded him of the times when he played shogi with his old man. His father would consistently force him into difficult situations that required a piece to be sacrificed for the game to continue. Then after his move was done, his father would always point out a way that would have allowed him to escape without losing any of his subordinates. After that, his father would always rant about how it was his job to strategize for missions and that he held the lives of his comrades in his hands.

It's not like he didn't know it, it was just that he didn't want to think about until it happens. That way, he wouldn't have to feel stressed out. Stress was… troublesome.

It was almost as troublesome as the flashbacks that always appeared out of nowhere. He could be trying to take a nap and suddenly, out of instinct, he pulled out a kunai and pointed it at whatever was behind him. It got him in trouble once with his mother. Shikamaru didn't hear his mother coming from behind until she was within reaching distance. One second later and she was almost stabbed by a shinobi's reflex.

'Man, the nagging that got me.'

It also frustrated him when he started noticing the pattern. He tried so hard, at least as hard as a Nara would try, to fix this problem. He started ignoring the instinct. He thought that it might hurt him in the future. However, he was only training right now, so the feeling he had in his gut to avoid an incoming weapon was no problem.

'Wait. What if…' thought the Nara as he turned to spot any danger. No. Nothing was there.

'That's a relief. For second there I thought…'

An explosion was heard from a distance from where Naruto was sitting.

"That should mean that I won." noted Naruto to himself, walking to where the eruption had occurred.

…

The scene was a disaster. Multiple trees were on the verge of falling or had already collapsed. Kiba was found on his stomach with his head facing a tree that still was standing.

'Idiot must have been sent flying from the explosion and hit his head on the tree.'

On the other side of where the eruption had taken place was Shikamaru. He too was in a prostate position with his face in the ground. He couldn't just leave the two shinobi in the state they they were. He'd have to carry their bodies to safety to make sure they weren't crushed by the trees that appeared to be close to falling.

Bending down to pick up the Inuzuka and his dog, Naruto heard a "puff" sound and couldn't control his body. He was forced to turn around to face his captor: Shikamaru Nara.

"Shadow possession jutsu, complete." announced Shikamaru, sounding relieved that the difficult part of the fight was over. He walked towards Naruto, which forced Naruto to walk towards you. With kunai in hand, Shikamaru put the kunai up to the neck of Naruto, signaling that he had officially won. Releasing the jutsu, Shikamaru put the kunai away.

"So you used substitution? I can't believe I fell for a cheap trick like that." mumbled the blond, annoyed with himself for losing a fight he was close to winning.

"I'll admit, the traps you placed were perfectly timed. Your idea of eliminating the Neji to get rid of the Byakugan was smart. However, it's unfortunate that your opponent was better at quick tactical skills." admitted the Nara turning his back to the Uzumaki. "Come on, wake Kiba up. We should go back to the others and make wake them up as well."

"Fine." was all he got in return.


End file.
